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Perhaps the least controversial element in the proposed
strategy is the call for Labour to back a change in the electoral system, to a
more proportional system which better reflects the wishes of the voters. Labour
under Tony Blair’s leadership in opposition in the 1990s promised such a change
and commissioned a report by former Labour Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, into
the issue when Labour won the 1997 general election. There was opposition from
some senior Labour politicians, pointing out that they had just won by a
landslide under the existing electoral system, so why should they change it?
The report was shelved and never mentioned again.

However, it is looking difficult for Labour now to win under
the First Past The Post (FPTP) system, with their wipe out in Scotland at this
year’s election, so maybe Labour will see an advantage in changing, or maybe
not. Labour will know that under almost any other voting system they would not
get an overall majority (nor would the Tories), so better to stick with FPTP.

But it is Lucas’s suggestion of an electoral pact of the
‘progressive’ parties that is the most controversial suggestion and it is riddled
with difficulties too, especially if we keep FPTP. She writes:

‘A possible first step could be for Labour,
Greens, Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid Cymru to empower local branches with the
ability to back candidates from other parties if they wish’.

This is possible already in the Green party and is probably
so in the other parties, after all, local parties can choose not to field a
candidate. Such arrangements have been made at elections between RESPECT and
the Greens, in Birmingham at a general election and in the north-west of
England region at a European election. But the five parties mentioned above
would be much more difficult to get an agreement with. Labour and the Lib Dems see
the Greens as their enemy and so are unlikely to help us win seats, which no
doubt were held by them in the recent past.

In this year’s general election Labour poured a lot of
resources into trying to recapture Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas’s seat, all
to no avail in the end. But they clearly want that seat back.

Our next best result was in Bristol West. This was the
result:

Labour 35.7%

Greens 26.8%

Lib Dem 18.8%

Tories 15.2%

Can you see Labour (or the Lib Dems who held the seat before
the election) standing down in favour of the Greens? No, I can’t either.

The problem is that the Greens, Labour and Lib Dems are all
competing for pretty much the same voters. This type of alliance would mean us
standing down in pretty much all of our potentially winnable seats, apart maybe
from Brighton Pavilion, which would not be great deal for us, just as we are
starting to gain electoral ground.

Of course we don’t know who the leaders of Labour and Lib
Dems will be at this stage and in which political direction they will take
their parties. I wouldn’t imagine say, Liz Kendall taking Labour in a more
progressive direction. But whoever becomes the leader of Labour and the Lib
Dems, it would surely look like they had given up all hope of advancement by
accepting this kind of arrangement. Then there is getting local parties to
agree to standing aside for their fiercest local rivals. Not easy at all I
think.

The old social democratic parties are being replaced in
parts of Europe by a new left. Having become discredited by their embrace of
neo-liberal economics, the voters are abandoning these parties and are
attracted to new radical parties of the left, who offer a genuine alternative
to the pro-big business, privatisation agenda that is pursued by the social
democratic parties these days.

We should aim to replace Labour and the Lib Dems as the
party of choice for progressive voters, not prop up their unpopularity with the
electorate by leaving them unchallenged. It’s probably a long road, but we need
to take more Labour and Lib Dem seats before they are likely to change their
policies to match ours and be worth having an alliance with.